Fritz survives tough challenge against Shelton at Indian Wells

Taylor Fritz defeats Ben Shelton and successfully starts his attempt to repeat last year's title.

Fritz has had some good performances in recent weeks. He reached the semifinals at the Dallas Open and the Mexico Open, in addition to winning the Delray Beach tournament. The 25-year-old player must defend the crown he won last year in his hometown, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the final.

Shelton is playing in the main draw of Indian Wells for the first time, where he has already achieved a comfortable victory in the first round against Italian Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-1. Now he will have to fight against the fourth seed Fritz, who after the absence of Nadal and Djokovic, and the early elimination of Tsitsipas, is seen as one of the top favorites to win the trophy.

Shelton managed to deal with Fritz's serve, showing great defense that allowed him to get the only break of the first set and take a 6-4 lead. In the second set, Fritz took advantage of the only break point that arose to tie the match at 6-4. Unfortunately for the young star Shelton, in the third set he again conceded a single break point that the defending champion capitalized on, and with his serve he was able to close out a tough match. Fritz won the second-round match 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, overcoming a very difficult challenge against the 20-year-old player.

In the third round, Taylor Fritz will play against the winner of the match between the 30th seed Sebastian Baez and the qualifier Rinky Hijikata.